Zoey is in the dinning hall with her friends when a new fledgling girl is lead in by her roommate, Sarah. After making fun of Sarah, they start talking about that month’s parents’ visit. The twins each received word from their parents that they would not be attending. Damien knows his parents will be there because it is the month of his birthday. Zoey is expecting the entire experience to be a nightmare because her mother and stepfather hate her. Sarah brings the new girl over to introduce her to Zoey, the leader of the Dark Daughters. The girl comments about Zoey’s mark and Zoey tries to mind her manners in front of the new fledgling. When they are alone again, her friends remind Zoey that she has to come up with new requirements for membership in the Dark Daughters. At visitation, Damien’s parents show up and he goes to meet with them. Stevie Rae’s mom comes and wants to meet Zoey. Zoey’s parents and grandmother, Sylvia, show up shortly after. Stevie Rae and her mom take off to get stuff out of the car. d joins Zoey and her family to tell them a watered down version of how Zoey achieved the additions to her mark. John (Zoey’s stepdad) starts making a fuss about the House of Night’s worship of the goddess Nyx being blasphemy. Neferet gives him the opportunity to keep his judgements to himself or leave. He chooses to leave and Linda (Zoey’s mom) follows. Unfortunately, Sylvia tells her granddaughter that she has to get a ride back with them because she is leaving Zoey’s car for her. Neferet echoes Sylvia’s sentiment that Zoey may be able to forgive her mother one day. Zoey asks if Neferet ever forgave her father. She admits she hasn’t, but that it seems like another insignificant life that all that happened.

Neferet dismisses Zoey from the reception hall after her family leaves. On her way back to the dorm, Zoey hears Aphrodite being yelled at. She decides to hide nearby and listen in. Her parents tell her they are very disappointed in her. Her father, the mayor of Tulsa, got her into a boarding school to prepare her for Harvard, but then she was marked. They were okay with this because they realized she could still earn money and power as a vampire. However, now they are angry at her because she is no longer leader of the Dark Daughters. Her mom tells her to get her position back. Aphrodite tries to explain that she can’t get her position back because Zoey is more powerful and a better leader. Her parents encourage her to act sorry to get back into Neferet’s good graces by sharing more of her visions. Aphrodite admits she is sorry, but they don’t seem to care. They make her walk her them back to the reception hall. Zoey goes on her way thankful that she didn’t have a bad family life until John came along three years ago.

The next night, Zoey and Stevie Rae rush off to their first classes to avoid being late. Neferet assigns an essay about the Gorgon, but Zoey asks to be excused to do some research about how she would like to run the Dark Daughters. Neferet sends her to the library. Zoey finds a computer and her cat, Nala, joins her. She researches private schools to see how their student governments work. Loren Blake, the Vampire Poet Laureate, is filling in for the librarian, Sappho, and sees her writing feverishly and comes to see what she is working on, assuming it is poetry. She tells him that she wants to run the Dark Daughters responsibly and make sure the members will be role models. She tells him about the system a school called Kent has where Prefects are elected by the students and approved by the Headmaster and Head Prefect each year. She wants the group to uphold five ideas represented by the five elements. Loren compliments her ideas as well as her beauty. Aphrodite comes in and sees them together with his hand on Zoey’s face. He checks out her books for her and then Sappho returns. Zoey turns to watch Loren leave and Aphrodite is staring at her with a smug smile.

Zoey wants to tell Stevie Rae about her run in with Loren, but doesn’t want Damien or the twins to start gossiping about it. So she starts talking to her friends about her ideas for the Dark Daughters. They like her ideas until she says she wants someone from Aphrodite’s former group on their council of Prefects. They whine about it until Zoey explains she wants what she starts with the Dark Daughters to become tradition that is passed down to future generations. Stevie Rae gets on board with this and suggests they have a plaque for each Prefect council. Damien gets creative and suggests they use handprints. Zoey decides to be late for Spanish and instead goes to tell Neferet about her ideas. When she arrives at the office, she hears Neferet talking to Aphrodite. Zoey throws her earring on the ground so she can pretend to look for it. The priestess is talking to Aphrodite cruelly and not believing her vision is a true one from Nyx. Neferet indicates that Nyx hates Aphrodite, who is crying. Zoey decides to get out of there.

Zoey feels sick during Spanish class and Stevie Rae comes to check on her in the bathroom. She lies and tells her best friend she is having cramps. After her equestrian class, Zoey feels better. The instructor, Lenobia, tells Zoey she can talk to her if she ever needs to. Zoey finds this strange as all fledglings go to their assigned mentor for that kind of thing. She decides to take the long way back to the dorms and thinks about the two ghosts she say of the two fledglings that died. She sees someone up by a large oak tree and is about to run away, but Loren calls out to her. He says he came out for inspiration, so Zoey offers to leave. He grabs her wrist to stop her and they flirt back and forth a bit. He asks her to stay and then asks to see the tattoo on her shoulder. Zoey pulls down her jacket and the strap to her tank top to show him. He recites an old haiku indicating that Zoey is beautiful. They get closer and Zoey wants to kiss him (even though she is going out with Erik), but Loren suddenly becomes distant. He bows to her and then leaves her alone.

Once Zoey is back in the girls dorm, she finds Stevie Rae and the twins watching TV together. They call her over to show her a football player, Chris Ford, from a neighboring community to her hometown is missing. Zoey admits that she knew him from parties Heath had dragged her to. She had trouble eating dinner that night. Aphrodite returns Zoey’s earring and goes to sit by herself in the courtyard. Zoey points out that her friends have abandoned her, but none of Zoey’s friends are able to muster any sympathy for Aphrodite. Neferet comes to ask Zoey to join her for dinner. Zoey has a bad feeling about it, but none of her friends offer her a way out of it. She looks back and Aphrodite is the one looking at her with pity.

Neferet leads Zoey to the dinning room for vampires that overlooks the courtyard and they sit on the balcony. She starts out by telling Zoey that she needs to trust her intuition and then confirming that she has heard about her plans for the Dark Daughters. Zoey admits that she had stopped by Neferet’s office early, but overheard her conversation with Aphrodite. Neferet warns Zoey that Aphrodite has gone down a dark path. Zoey worries until Neferet changes the subject back to the Dark Daughters, but the conversation comes quickly back to Aphrodite when Zoey explains she wants someone from the old regime on the new council. Aphrodite's friends have all abandoned her, it would be hard to include one of them on the council. Neferet suggest they take nominations and then choose a proper sixth former from there considering. Zoey points out that she wants the staff and students to vote on the council members, but Neferet insists they have the final say. Finally, Zoey says she wants to work with a human charity to become part of the community and hopefully start being accepted into it. Neferet is against it, but Zoey tells her she feels it is the right thing to do. The priestess asks what Zoey has in mind and then laughs when Zoey says she wants to work with the cat rescue.

Zoey stops by her cubby hole in Neferet’s classroom and sees someone left a poem for her. She automatically thinks it is from Loren. She rushes back to the dorm and finds Stevie Rae. She pulls her away from the others saying he needs help with her homework. Zoey makes Stevie Rae promise not to tell anyone and then tells her everything that has been going on with her and Loren and Neferet and Aphrodite. Stevie Rae points out that Zoey is dating Erik, but Zoey protests it isn’t official even though they have been dating publicly for a month. Stevie Rae also points out teachers dating students is forbidden at the House of Night. Zoey wants to be normal and fit in, but doesn’t know what to do. They go downstairs to join their friends in watching a movie. When they turn on the TV, there is a report that the body of Chris Ford was found in a river, drained of blood, and another player, Brad Higeons (Chris’ cousin), is also missing. Zoey goes for a walk and heads out to the stables. She finds Aphrodite there having a vision. She tries to help Aphrodite get to Neferet, but Aphrodite says she can’t go to the Priestess because she doesn’t believe her. Zoey decides she doesn’t believe Aphrodite either and prepares to leave her on the bench alone. Aphrodite grabs Zoey’s risk and tells her if she doesn’t listen, her grandmother will die.

Aphrodite explains that she wants Zoey to know that her visions are still real and from Nyx. She makes Zoey promise not to go to Neferet. She also makes Zoey swear she owes Aphrodite a favor of her choosing. She tells Zoey what she has seen. Aphrodite describes a bridge on a highway collapsing and cars going over into the river below. Zoey prods her until she is able to get a distinct time and location accident. Zoey turns on her cell phone to call her grandmother and warn her. Sylvia agrees to stay home, but asks what Zoey is going to do about the other people in the accident. Zoey promises she will figure it out.

Zoey rushes to her friends and tells them what she has just learned. They are weary to trust Aphrodite’s word, but Zoey convinces them. Together they decide the best way to close down the bridge and prevent the accident is to call in a bomb threat at 2:30 pm. Damien gives Zoey his disposable cell phone (he makes sure he always has one for emergencies) and tells her he will destroy it when she is done. Zoey is about to go look up the number for the FBI in the phonebook when Neferet arrives with two humans in suits. They take Zoey into a room and start asking question about her relationship with the two football players, Chris and Brad. Zoey explains she only really knew them through parties and mutual friends and hasn’t seen them in months. They start asking about her visit from Heath and Kayla and she tells them about it. They ask if she cut him and sucked his blood and she is appalled. She realizes Kayla’s jealousy probably got the better of her and she lied to the men. Zoey explains her facetious threat against Kayla. Neferet reprimands her. Zoey goes on to tell them how Heath crashed their ritual. They show her a pendant that Zoey recognizes as worn by the leader of the Dark Daughters.

The men explain the necklace was found by Chris’ body. Zoey says hers is in her room when they ask to see it. Neferet is angry they are implying a vampire attack was the boy’s cause of death. She points out how the boys are constantly under the influence and a body lying around is prone to animal attacks. They give Zoey a card to contact them and then Neferet escorts the men out. Zoey discusses the situation with her friends, and they can’t figure out how the necklace was with the body. Zoey’s is still in her room and it is the one Neferet took from Aphrodite. That night, Zoey has trouble sleeping. She finally falls asleep only to have a dream about Neferet and Loren eating sheep dressed as football players. She wakes up after only two hours of sleep and decides to cover up her mark and go out for a bit per the House of Night rules. She goes shopping and then sits outside a Starbucks with a coffee drink. Heath finds her and starts telling her that they are still together. She insists they broke up before she was marked and their is no way for them to make it work. Zoey checks the time and realizes she only has fifteen minutes to get back to the House of Night and make the phone call to the FBI. Heath walks her back to her car and gets in the passenger side. She tries to be nice about telling him to get out, but he pulls out a razor blade and cuts the side of his neck. He tells her he wants her to drink his blood and she cannot resist.

Zoey drinks the blood from Heath’s neck as he starts to fondle her. She starts rubbing his crotch. A security guard comes to break them up. Heath convinces him they are leaving and he goes away. Heath asks Zoey to meet him when she can and she agrees before driving away to get back to the House of Night. She quietly gets Damien’s phone from her drawer and goes into the bathroom. She calls both the FBI and a local news station to report the bomb threat. Stevie Rae wakes up and knocks on the door to check on her. Zoey comes out and tells her what has been going on with Heath and then the calls. Stevie Rae has a million questions about Zoey’s love life, but Zoey doesn’t have the answers. She agrees to let Zoey figure it and they go to eat cereal.

The girls are in the common room watching TV when the news comes on with a breaking update about the investigation of the bomb threat. Aphrodite watches behind them and comments on how smart it was. The Stevie Rae and the twins are immediately questioning her presence. She ends up leaving, but gives a secret wink to Zoey before she does. Damien comes over and tells them they need to get to work on the Rec hall for the ritual the next day. When they get there, Neferet is waiting for them. She introduces them to a new student, Jack Twist, and asks Damien to show him around while his mentor (Loren) and roommate (Erik) are out of town. A few athletic boys ask to help with their setup and Zoey has Damien tell them where to move furniture. The girls go to make other arrangements and the twins comment on how Jack is gay.

Someone turns the TV on and the main story is about the bomb threat being a hoax. A fledgling named Drew comes over to tell Zoey they have completed their tasks and flirts with Stevie Rae. He asks her to go get some dinner and she asks everyone to join them. As they start walking out, the twins start a snowball fight. Zoey uses the opportunity to sneak away to the media center to do some research for the ritual the next night. She starts thinking about how Erik is nice to fool around with, but he makes her feel like an unexperienced girl. Loren makes her feel like a woman. Heath, who she has known the longest, is just now starting to appeal to her again, but she wonders how much of that is because of his blood. She goes to start her research in a big leather bound book, but a poem falls out addressed to her. It is a haiku talking about not being able to hide her scarlet secret in the night. She wonders if it is supposed to be sexy or about her blood lust. Nala comes up to her and Zoey gets back to work.

After her research is complete, Zoey picks up Nala to take her back to the dorm. On their way, Zoey remembers that she needs to get eucalyptus from the school store for her ritual. She starts to turn back and sees a figure in the snow. Her gut tells her to follow the person and she does. She ends up by the trap door in the wall where she previously saw two ghosts of kids, Elliot and Elizabeth, that didn’t survive the change. She hides in the shadows and sees the figure, who she can now see is Elliot, approach Neferet. She watches as Neferet yell at him for coming to the school. He calls her his goddess and she calls him one of his children. He begs her for something and she ends up slicing her arm to give him her blood. They both seem to enjoy the experience. Zoey is disgusted by the display and leaves.

Zoey gets back to the dorm and joins her friends, who are watching TV. She asks Damien if there are any recorded instances of a fledgling coming back after rejecting the change. Suddenly, they are worried about Zoey’s health. She promises them she is fine and tells them about the ghosts. She leaves out Neferet’s involvement because she doesn’t want the priestess to know Zoey saw her with Elliot from what they are thinking. Damien starts giving a history lesson and Zoey tunes him out. She notices the news shows they found the body of the second Union football player. Damien asks if Zoey had any feelings about him that might be able to give them clues. She doesn’t tell him much before she says she lies to them and says she has to go finish writing the ritual she has already completed. Stevie Rae goes with her because she has a headache. Once Stevie Rae is asleep, Zoey gets ready to do more research.

Flipping through her advanced vampire sociology book, Zoey finds a section on bloodlust. It talks about the sexuality involved for both vampire and human. The next section talks about imprinting, so she reads on. She reads that fledglings do not imprint on each other, but a vampire and a fledgling can with bad results once that fledgling changes. There is also a section saying how painful it is for the bond to be broken for the human. Zoey leans her head agains the window and thinks about Health. Suddenly, it is like she is over him, watching him. She starts to get turned on and he moans in his sleep. She wants to have sex with him, but ends up pulled back to herself. Her phone goes off and she has a text message from Heath asking her to promise to meet him. She promises. She lays in bed and has trouble going to sleep trying to decide what to do about all the boys that want her.

As Zoey and her friends get everything ready for the ritual, Stevie Rae makes a small scream. She and Damien ask Zoey to come over and they show her that Stevie Rae has an affinity for earth. Zoey has a feeling and has the other three go to their respective spots in the circle. She calls Jack and Erik over. She has Jack get the candles from Damien and has Eric deliver each to their respective representers. Shaunee has an affinity for fire, Erin for water, and Damien for air. Neferet comes in and announces Zoey’s ideas for the new structure of the Dark Daughters as her own. Before the priestess leaves, she leaves squares of wet cement for them to make their handprints. Zoey explains it was Damien’s idea rather than taking credit. Neferet leaves and Zoey feels like her mentor took the winds out of her sails.

Now that Neferet has taken most of what Zoey wanted to talk about, she is nervous about starting the ritual. Suddenly, Loren is by her side. He says that with her permission, he will read a poem to start their ceremony. He introduces himself and Zoey and nods at Jack to start the music. Loren reads while Zoey dances. When the song and poem are done, she goes to each of her friends and calls on the elements to join their circle. Afterwards, she reiterates that the Dark Daughters and Sons will be changing. She points out how each of her friends meet the requirements for the elements they have their affinities for. She notices that Stevie Rae looks tired and pale. When she gets to herself for spirit, Erik leads the call that she represents sincerity well.

Zoey finishes the ritual by passing around wine, saying a prayer, and closing the circle. As the other kids go to eat, the prefects on the council go to put their handprints into the cement blocks. Stevie Rae is at the furthest one. After her block is complete, she starts coughing. Zoey looks at her and she says she just has a frog in her throat. Suddenly, Stevie Rae starts coughing up blood. Zoey goes to her and holds her. Damien brings the green candle and Zoey calls Earth to help Stevie Rae. Neferet arrives with a stretcher and intends to have taken away. Zoey refuses to leave her. The priestess offers her a vial of something for the pain, but Stevie Rae refuses it because she hasn’t felt any since earth was called. Zoey rides on the stretcher with Stevie Rae to the infirmary. Damien and the twins follow closely. Stevie Rae asks Zoey to tell her parents that Zoey is their daughter now. She dies shortly after.

Neferet tries to get Zoey to let go of the body, but her friends have a more productive idea. Damien has them each call their own elements to help soothe their friend. Erik asks spirit to join on Zoey’s behalf and she seems to snap out of it. Neferet takes the body. Zoey’s friends walk her back to her dorm room where all of Stevie Rae’s things are already gone. On the way, Aphrodite expresses her sympathies and tells Zoey not to drink whatever Neferet gave her to stop the nightmares. The boys leave her and the twins go to get her food. Zoey throws away her clothes and gets in the shower to wash off the blood.

Zoey finds a quilt Stevie Rae used to keep at the foot of her bed and brings it over to her own. Sylvia calls, sensing that something is wrong. Zoey tells her about Stevie Rae and Sylvia vows to fast and pray all day. Next, Zoey gets a text message from Heath asking if she is okay. Again, she explains the situation. He reminds her that he has recently lost friends as well and asks if he should come see her. She tell shim no, but agrees to see him that Friday night. Erin and Shaunee come to spend the night with Zoey. Shortly after they settle in on Stevie Rae’s old bed, Damien comes in with his sleeping bag and pillow. Zoey wonders how he will sneak out in the morning, but he tells them they have a snow day and no classes. They decide they will remember Stevie Rae and stick together.

In her dreams, Zoey sees Stevie Rae with Elliot. Heath is there and asks if they know Zoey. Since Heath has already seem them, they have to take him with them. Zoey wakes up to find all of her friends are already gone. The twins come in to let her know Erik and Cole are coming over to watch movies. Zoey goes downstairs to join their friends and they start reminiscing about Stevie Rae. Zoey gets up to make popcorn, but Erik brings her back to the living room to show her the news. Heath is the latest missing teenager and his truck was found in the House of Night parking lot. Zoey throws up.

Erik offers to take Zoey to Neferet’s office. Zoey says she needs to go back to her dorm first, but ends up going to Aphrodite’s room instead. She asks how to tell the difference between a vision and a dream. Aphrodite explains visions always feel awful. Zoey asks why Aphrodite doesn’t trust Neferet. She is hesitant to explain until Zoey shows her apprehension about the priestess as well. She says she doesn’t feel like Nyx has abandoned her. When her best friend and roommate, Venus, died Neferet gave her a vial that made her almost forget her old roommate. They agree it is best if no one knows they are having these conversations. Zoey rejoins her friends and they go to see Neferet, who is talking with the two detectives that previously came to question Zoey. She tells them she hasn’t seen Heath and gives her alibi while showing them her phone. Neferet is shocked that Zoey has been in contact and planning to meet Heath. She lies and says it was to break things off with him for good. She tells them about her dream and says it may have been a vision. Detective Marx gives Zoey his card again and says his twin sister was marked fifteen years ago. Neferet talks to Zoey alone and is suspicious as to why the mixture to keep Zoey from dreaming didn’t work. Zoey has her own suspicions as she realizes Neferet is just like her real mom.

Zoey sits with her friends to wait for the evening news to come on. When it does, there isn’t any new information about Heath except that the snow is deterring the authorities searching. She decides to go groom Persephone to relax and think. Erik walks her to the stables. She tells him that she ran into Heath while he was out of town and may have imprinted on him. Erik doesn’t break up with her and suggests she might be able to find him using the link. Zoey goes to brush Persephone and Erik leaves. She thinks about Heath, but isn’t able to connect to him until she thinks about his blood. Heath tells her he is being kept by some odd creatures that drink blood, but not like Zoey. He has seen them in groups and the strongest seem to be Elliot, Venus, and the leader, Stevie Rae. Zoey confirms with Heath it is her best friend. He is reluctant to tell her where he is because he doesn’t want her to come after him and get hurt. She tells him they can’t hurt her and he believes her. He tells her how to get into the tunnels (used during prohibition) and which way to go to find him. He tells her to hurry.

Aphrodite comes to tell Zoey she had a vision about Heath dying. She tells her to take the horse to get to him and call her friends to help from the House of Night. Aphrodite says she had visions of the other boys as well, but that was when Neferet started saying that Nyx deserted her. Together, they prepare Persephone and Zoey takes off. She calls on the elements to help her get through the snow storm. She arrives at the abandoned train depo and heads inside. She leaves Persephone inside and goes to the basement. She finds a grate and lifts it to go down into the sewer tunnels. She follows Heath’s directions and stays to the right. When she hears him scream, she runs to him in a flash. She stands between him and the circle of creatures surrounding him. Elliot is there and soon Stevie Rae shows up.

Zoey is so relieved to see that Stevie Rae is still alive that she hugs her best friend. Stevie Rae explains they aren’t dead, but they no longer have their humanity. Zoey doesn’t really believe that is true. Venus (Aphrodite’s old roommate) comes up to say she doesn’t mind feeding off of Heath even though his blood is tainted by imprint. Zoey becomes protective and calls fire to her. She sees an image of Shaunee as a fireball forms in her hand. Elizabeth throws herself at Heath and Zoey uses the fireball to kill her. She then calls on air and water to wash the dead body away and sees Damien and Erin when she does. Zoey and Heath start making their way out, but the creatures follow them. Zoey calls on earth to collapse the tunnel and slow them down. She sees an image of the new Stevie Rae crying in a corner. Heath offers Zoey his blood to recharge her. She tries to refuse, but he puts some on her lips and kisses her. He then leads her to the cut on his cheek. Stevie Rae finds them.

Stevie Rae catches up with them and tells Zoey that they are terrible creatures. She admits the others killed the two boys before she got there, but she wants to kill Heath. The only thing that stopped her was the imprint. Zoey promises they will work it out together. Stevie Rae tells them to get out of there before Neferet finds them because she will kill them if she does. Zoey leads Heath back to the basement and calls Detective Marx. She gives Heath the extra blanket she brought and as they walk outside Neferet shows up. Zoey runs to her and tells her mentor how the street person was after them and scared them. She acts like she is glad Neferet arrived to save them. They hear sirens and Zoey says it is Detective Marx on his way. Neferet grabs them both and says they will remember nothing. Everything goes black.

Zoey sees Nyx, who tells her the elements can heal as well as destroy. She wakes up to find Detective Marx there trying to help her sit up. A paramedic comes by to help, but he sends him away, saying he will take her back to the House of Night. Zoey asks about Heath and he tells her he will be fine. He gets her into his truck and starts driving. He asks her what happened, but Zoey can’t remember. She has shooting pain when she tries. Once she realizes she has a block on her memories, she asks Detective Marx to stop so she can use the elements to restore them. After she calls on the elements to heal her mind, she remembers everything.

Detective Marx tries to get Zoey to tell him everything before they go into the House of Night, but she know she can’t tell him everything. She says she will try to help if more people go missing. Once inside, Neferet and Zoey’s friends are waiting for her. Zoey apologizes for worrying them and explains that Heath is fine and doesn’t really remember anything. Detective Marx explains Zoey gave a description of the man who kidnapped the boys and they will look for evidence that the suspect tried to make it look like vampire attacks. Neferet is surprised and Zoey says her memory is really good. Neferet quietly threatens her. Zoey ignores the comment and asks Neferet to look at her back. The priestess hesitates and Zoey lifts up her shirt to show her mark has expanded down her back. She hugs Neferet and tells her it doesn’t matter if she turns everyone against her, she still has Nyx on her side. After Detective Marx leaves, Zoey excuses herself and her friends to go to Nyx’s temple to light a green candle for Stevie Rae. They all promise they won’t forget her. Zoey vows to go back for her.

About the Blogger

My name is Michelle, and I like to read... a lot. As I read a book, I take notes after each chapter. When I finish the book, I type out a summary and post it in this blog.It has taken me a while to find a process that really works. Some of my older summaries will be short and just summarize the overall plot.